Upcoming Gigs

Having survived my first ever car crash (see Gary's previous post) shaken but unbruised, it was nice to get into work mode here in Los Angeles again.

Yesterday we spent most of the day with our colleagues at Direct Management mapping out plans for Jamie's career. Its a great time for Steve, Martin and the team - their client Katy Perry currently has the number one selling single in the US with 'I Kissed A Girl'. Great song and a great achievement for all involved. Check out the video on YouTube.

So we arrive in LA, feeling all fresh from our BA flight and collect our hire car, a nice convertible Pontiac G6 or something or other. Bit of a horrible colour but the absence of a roof was definately a necessity. Marc is driving, I am map reading. Actually that is a lie, we had sat-nav (which incidentally has a much sexier voice than the one's back home where the woman sounds like she would rather be anywhere other than stuck in the car with you!) I digress. Anyway, we are driving along, looking cool when suddenly we get rammed off the road by a pizza boy!

It is only when we stop, step back and reflect on the many gigs we've seen in a month that we realize what a vast musical landscape we are surrounded by. If I were to list the gigs I’ve seen by genre, it would read as follows: Afro-beat/world, vocal jazz, folk/rock, alternative folk, indo/jazz fusion, rock, electro, thrash metal and Brazilian pop. But we never like to pigeonhole now do we?

I was very excited to be invited as a delegate to this years Glasgow International Jazz Festival. The Scottish scene is thriving and I have to say with musicians like Ryan Quigley and the refreshing Dave Milligan leading the scene I was glad I took the invitation. Ryan who performed in a packed City Halls Recital Rooms was in fact one of the highlights of the weekend but not only Ryan there was also the young enterprising Alyn Cosker supporting the legend Bobby Watson in an acoustically beautiful Fruitmarket.

So last week, I went to see Def Leppard and had the pleasure of meeting them before their show at Wembley Arena which was quite an honour. I first saw them on TV when I was 7 years old, rockin' out their classic 'Animal' at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Nearly 20 years later they are still going strong with their latest album going straight into the top ten, in the lead up to their double headline tour with 80's group Whitesnake. The gig was great with a mixture of new and old material... any hey Jimmy Page was there, so they obviously have his approval (!)

Great gig!

Another update, and another few great gigs to report on...

It was a real pleasure to see Finn Peters' performance at the Vortex Jazz Club in mid-June. I caught his set at Pizza Express in May for the launch of his new album 'Butterflies', and this was a chance get a more rounded perspective on his playing as he performed older music as well as the new tunes.

On Friday I had the pleasure of watching Tim Garland take on the classical audience with Bach's Concerto for Oboe ( which is always a risk doing it on Soprano Sax), his own newly commissioned homage to Bach and some of his Lighthouse Trio's pieces. The trio were joined by the Sacconi strings who had expanded to a 9 piece group for the occasion.
I can normally be assured of a great evening when I go and see the Lighthouse Trio and their new music is even more awesome than the last album. This evening, however, was something else!

Stanley Clarke, Jazz Cafe, 20.05.08

It was a late start to Stanley Clarke's Jazz Café show, the virtuoso bassist making an eager audience wait before coming on and launching into a strident fusion groove to open a night of music that spanned the breadth of his long career.

As a college student who just finished her freshman year, I was not expecting my summer internship to be very involved or challenging. I came to work for Air Tours in May, but it feels like I have been working here for much longer. The first week I was helping draw up contracts, calling venues, and sending out promotional material. In my short time here, I have learned everything about what happens behind the curtain of the concerts I have been attending since I was thirteen. Everyone on the team is very friendly, and I use the term “team” because we all work together.

“Joe, you coming out to watch the Champions League final next week?”

“Er, no... I’m going to Ronnie Scott’s to watch a Japanese pianist called Hiromi.”

“Right…”